Until the early to mid-1970's, patients with injured or diseased ankle joints commonly resulting from rheumatism, or degenerative or traumatic arthritis, had few options when their ankle joints failed. The most common procedure to help these patients regain some use of their ankle was obliteration of the joint by fusion, a procedure that is still commonly used today. Fusion, however, renders the ankle stiff and generally immobile relative to the lower leg, resulting in limited use and additional stresses on the knee and hip joints.
Total ankle prosthesis have been used since at least as early as 1969. The medical community recognized that such ankle replacement led to largely increased use of the ankle joint because the replacement permitted ankle ranges of motion which generally attempted to mimic the natural human joint. Since that time, ankle replacement prostheses have become increasingly common in use and improved in design. However, less invasive surgical methods with improved healing and decreased failure rates are desirable.